July 6, 2013
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Rules for God’s sake or rules for rule’s sake
Sacred texts:
2 Kings 5:1-14
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him God had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Mighty One his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Galatians 6:1-16
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A person reaps what she or he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask God of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The dominion of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The dominion of God has come near.’
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me.” 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
End sacred texts
This is one of those oh too frequent times when my message is really a conversation between God and I that I share with you on the off chance you might learn without having to go through the life lesson.
I am a rule based compliant child. I was raised to understand there are rules and those rules are violated only with a clear understanding that there will be consequences. The other side of this is the belief that if you obeyed the rules then there would be no consequences. This leads to a belief that life will be fair. I maintained this core belief despite frequent reminders from my mother that no one is ever promised that life will be fair. I found my way into secular ministry in the role of social worker. I suspect the reason for this career choice was an abiding desire to make the world fair. Eventually my career moved me even more directly into the whole rule based system by working in the area of regulating adult foster care homes. My role was to determine compliance with the rules and meet out consequences for those who failed to keep the rules. Because we were social workers, our sense of enforcing the rules include a high level of desire to explain the rules and help the operator with coming into compliance with the rules. We didn’t see the rules as being there for the rule’s sake but because the rule made life safer and better for those in care.
The readings for today have a great deal to say about rules and why we should follow the rules. Naaman has leprosy and wants to be made well. When he is instructed as to what he must do to be made well, he thinks the requirements are foolish and he is unwilling to do what he is told. How often do we petition God for something in our lives and then when the answer comes to us we think the requirements are foolish or too hard. We want to win the game but we don’t want to play by the rules unless they make sense to us. It is when Naaman is reminded that he asked to be healed and he would do anything to be healed so why not do what the prophet told him. Sometimes we need to be reminded that to win the game we have to play by the rules even when we don’t like them or they don’t make sense.
However, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he tells them they shouldn’t make others play by the rules. He says it isn’t the rules that are important, it is our relationship with God that matters. So much of the history of religion has been about the creation of rules. Obeying the rules defines you in and violating the rules defines you out. The rules became the important concern of religious leaders and of those who wanted to win the game.
So which is it? Is the most important thing in life following the rules or is it in doing what seems right to us? I think the answer is in for what sake are you acting and what does it mean to win the game. Following the rules for the rule’s sake is to play the game with the goal of controlling our own destiny, winning the game means that we are able to get what we have earned through our diligent efforts to keep the rules. Following the rules for God’s sake is to play the game knowing we control nothing and everything, even the outcome of the game is in God’s control. I don’t know why God wanted Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordon River, perhaps God was testing Naaman’s humility to be willing to do something foolish. Or maybe, God wanted Naaman to think about what he was doing, why he was doing it, and to surrender to the direction of God. For whatever reason, following the rules was essential for Naaman to be healed of leprosy. It is surprising to me that there did not arise a ritual requirement for persons with leprosy to bathe in the Jordon River seven times to be healed. New rules could have been written about when this would be effective and how long each dip in the water must last, etc. Clearly dipping in the Jordon was not God’s only way of healing leprosy as Jesus healed lepers without Jordon immersion. The rules cannot be generalize to all people in the same situation. It isn’t the rules that heal. Following the rules for God’s sake means we must be open to hear the rules God has for us and know that it is only in God’s wisdom and guidance that we win the game of life.
This is where the message is mostly for me. I have been experiencing a difficult time with the person in my denomination who appoints interim pastors. Some hurtful comments were made about how I did interim ministry and suggested I had been working only for my own benefit and with disregard for the rules. I have been trying to resolve this by direct dealing and sharing how from my point of view I had done nothing wrong. I was confident that as long as I demonstrated how I had played by the rules then I would be vindicated and life would be fair. I was even more frustrated when I went to our General Conference expecting to have a chance face to face to resolve this issue and return to being sued by the denomination to continue interim ministry. Just before conference the person I hoped to meet to resolve this abruptly resigned. Far from resolving the situation, the resignation only complicated it. There was no place to be vindicated, to prove the rightness of my actions and the purity of my motives. I found myself in an almost constant, why me, this isn’t fair mantra.
On my way home from conference, I started working with this week’s lectionary texts. And this is where God started to speak to me. God confronted me with my feelings about what is right and fair. God asked me why did you play by the rules? Were you expecting to be rewarded because you served and did what I called you to do? If you were playing by the rules out of the expectation that you would be rewarded with continuing ministry, if you worked hard at being a good interim minister so you would gain praise from others, then you were playing by the rules for the rule’s sake. You were trying to purchase the outcome you desired rather than wanting to do what I called you to do. It was not the most pleasant train ride home from conference as I struggled with just what was my motivation, what did I expect from playing by the rules?
I don’t have all the answers yet, this is new to me. But what I do know is that I want to play by the rules for God’s sake and not for the rule’s sake, or even for my sake. If I am playing by the rules to gain the praise of others, to feel in control of my life, or to buy certain outcomes, then all of the benefit of my work is only for the here and now. I sincerely want my work to be for God’s glory and to bring about God’s dominion in this world. I do not want to rejoice in what I have done, I want to rejoice that my name is written down in heaven. Amen and let it be so.
